Kursk: With Hopes for Its Next Visit, People bid Farewell to Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God

In the early morning of Monday, October, His Eminence Herman, Metropolitan of Kursk & Rylsk, celebrated Divine Liturgy before the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign in the city's Diocesan Cathedral of the Sign, co-served by diocesan clergy.

This is now the ninth visit of the great holy icon of the Kursk region - which became the Protectess of the Russian Diaspora in the 20th century - to the Metropolitanate of Kursk.

This year, the icon was venerated by over 100,000 worshippers of and pilgrims to the Kursk Oblast', who thereby obtained spiritual consolation and support. The Cathedral of the Sign was kept open 24 hours a day for the benefit of those who wished to pray before the icon of the Queen of Heaven, as clergymen performed an endless cycle of molebens and akathists to the Most Holy Theotokos before it.

Despite the early morning, many of the residents of Kursk came to bid farewell to the Kursk Root Icon. They expressed hope that the icon would once again be brought to the land where it was first discovered over 700 years ago.

Upon completion of the Liturgy, the ruling bishop of Kursk then blessed the city with the holy image and accompanied it to the airport. The ROCOR delegation then took the icon to Orenburg Diocese.